I’m not sure why he had to be human for this though. If your omniscient, you know it all anyway. And if you believe God is omniscient, you know he knows it all. As ever with things where God ‘had’ to do something (die, be human etc.) I’m just not clear on why he “had’ to do it. Who tells God what he ‘has’ to do? I thought he made the rules?

This takes me back to my questions 1 & 2. My question isn’t about the mechanics of atonement though – I can imagine how the case is made in terms of one person substituting for someone else. I just don’t understand who it was that judged that the death of Jesus was required at all, or why they would make that decision. If you claim that God is omnipotent, then Jesus didn’t have to die. If Jesus did have to die, God is either not omnipotent, or God decided Jesus had to die. They are the only options, surely?

I don’t have time to read books on subjects I am not convinced by, in the same way that I’ve never yet managed to persuade a religious person to read the God Delusion, I’m going to use the reasoning that I doubt there is much of interest to me there – but I’m more than happy for you to explain the key points that you think would help solve this paradox I’m struggling with.